Richard J. Duffin

The citation reads as follows:

• The 1982 von Neumann Theory Prize of the Operations Research Society of America and The Institute of Management Sciences is awarded to Abraham Charnes, William W. Cooper, and Richard J. Duffin for their fundamental contributions to optimization methods, concepts, and models for problems of decision, planning and design.

These contributions, many of them linked to the awardees' common association with what is now the Carnegie-Mellon University, span a multitude of fields including: linear programming and inequalities, goals and chance-constrained programming, geometric programming, infinite dimensional and convex programming, network modeling and analysis, fractional and interval programming, prediction and stochastic decision rules, and game theory. This body of work is notable not only for its significance and breadth, but also for its exemplification of the power of broadly conceived applications to spark the advance of theory by first-rate minds.